Dancing with Daffodils

My family recently moved into a bigger and more forever kind of home. When we came here seven years ago we had very little money and an eight-month-old baby girl. We were so grateful to get the beautiful house we were able to purchase and we loved living in it. It was in a small and friendly neighborhood and we backed up to the woods and we made many memories there. Last spring I had decided that it was time to come up with a plan and start looking for a larger home that would meet the needs of our larger family. Through a series of events, we found a home in late August, put ours on the market by the end of September and closed on both houses just a few days before Christmas. It was incredibly busy and stressful and I am just now beginning to process the emotion of it all. I am sentimental and get attached easily to people and things. I loved our old house. I brought three babies home to that house. I had my first little garden, hosted many baby showers and Christmas parties, and la...

Saturday mornings are my favorite time with my family.  My husband and I sleep in a bit while the kids wake up and play quietly in someone's room until we get up. When we go to get the kids, they are always so happy to see their dad and have him around for morning time. Sometimes I get up first and get the kids while he stays in bed and then they all love to go in and jump on him and give him kisses to wake up. Wrestling, tickling and laughter often ensues on those days. Once we're all up we head downstairs, still in our pajamas, and get started on a fun breakfast. Pancakes are my favorite, but my husband makes amazing French toast and waffles too. Sometimes we have German pancakes or egg sandwiches but those are usually our Sunday fare. We crank up the Saturday morning playlist and get to work.  Yesterday I made smoothies for the kids while my husband made waffles and the kids set the table. It is the only day of the week we eat breakfast all together so it is always fun t...

It has been quite a month. I missed two days but it has been a good experience to write every day and think back on my life and the experiences I've had that have been important, good or instructive. On this last day of November and my blogging extravaganza, I want to look forward to the future and list what I hope to experience someday. In no particular order: 1. Europe. I really want to go to Europe and do some serious exploring. Bring on Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. I want to see the Nuschwanstein castle, eat pizza next to a canal in Venice, climb the Eiffel Tower, eat French cheese, see the Matterhorn, visit the Sistine Chapel and swim in the Mediterranean Sea. I'd love to go back to England too and see it all over again. 2. Celebrate our first Christmas in our new house. This year is so weird because we're moving right before the holiday so no decorating, no time to bake, no setting up the electric train or the advent calendar and no huge Dou...

I was a senior in high school walking out of my AP English class when this nice boy who sat in front of me followed me out of class and asked me out on a date. It was my first official date and it happened on November 21, 1997. We immediately hit it off and went on a second date that I didn't think went very well. He was very indecisive and didn't really have a plan for the evening and it was kind of lame. But we had good phone conversations regularly and for lengthy periods of time so we went on a third date. By then it was Christmas and he sent me the most beautiful roses I had ever seen. I was incredibly embarrassed though because my parents were living in Boise at the time but were home for Christmas and I hadn't really told them about him so they teased me for weeks. We didn't see much of each other over Christmas break because I was busy with my family and volleyball practice. We spent a lot of time together in January and held hands for the first time while at...

I have driven across the country numerous times. As a kid almost every summer we would pack up our blue Chevy conversion van with the two bench seats in the back that folded down into beds and head out west to visit extended family. We would leave at 4pm when my dad got home from work, usually hit Chicago somewhere in the middle of the night and then wake up early in the morning just over the Nebraska border. Then we would spend all day driving across Nebraska, all 500 miles of flat, smelly Nebraska. We usually made it to Grandma's house in Colorado by dinner time. We'd spend a day or two there then finish the last eight-hour stretch through windy Wyoming to Salt Lake City. I loved being in the car and watching the scenery go by while listening to my mixed tapes on my Walkman. We'd play car games or cards, jam to John Denver or sometimes my dad would listen to old time radio shoes on tape and we'd all have to listen too. We only ever stopped for gas so I learned some ...

I love celebrating holidays and I love traditions. I am grateful for all of the wonderful family traditions that are a part of who I am and of the family my husband and I have created. A typical Thanksgiving for me as a kid meant that our friends, the Adams family, came over for the day. We would play games all day and snack on veggies and cheese and crackers, then eat our dinner around 4pm. Turkey, yams and apples, homemade rolls and stuffing, cranberries, corn, green beans, and Jello salad were always on the table. Then we would talk and eat and talk some more until we ate pie. My favorite is my mom's apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream, but I also love her cherry and pumpkin will do if that's all that's left. Then we would all gather to watch a Christmas movie and during the movie we would pause it to make turkey sandwiches with the leftover rolls and turkey. It was a simple celebration but it became tradition to share our day with friends since we never had any ...

My mom is a wonderful lady. She loves to do things for people to make them happy. That often includes cooking or baking of some sort and she is known for her delicious homemade bread and her cinnamon rolls. She made my lunch for me until I was a senior in high school, she was constantly hosting and feeding people, and she made every holiday special. She also was happy to drive me anywhere I needed to go and once even drove three hours down to Pennsylvania to pick me up early from a special church camp I had gone to so that I could make it to casting day for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I desperately wanted to be a dancer that year and that required being there for casting. Over six hours of driving in one day just to give me a chance to make my non-important dream come true. Her nature is to take care of people and helping others is just what makes her happy. She has been here to help when each of my children were born and many other times when she would come to visit she would take me ...